Waiting
by Isabel Night
Summary: Now that the rice harvest is over, Dais reflects on his first winter without Anubis.


**Disclaimer**-I will never own, Dais, Mia, and/or Anubis. Everyone belongs to his or her respective owners, producers, voice actors, etc.

_Waiting  
Isabel Night_

  
Dear Anubis,

Forgive me for not writing this letter last week, as I had previously promised you, but with the rice harvest finished and the lesser cold starting to crystallize the land, I felt that now would be a good time to sit down in front of the fireplace in my room and pen this epistle.

In spite of the fact that this will be our first winter without you, my young ogre, Cale, Sekhmet, and I are getting along fairly well. Sekhmet is constantly complaining about the frigid weather, as he was born in Southern Kyushu and favors warmer temperatures. Cale, on the other hand, seems to enjoy the bitter winds and dead land that make up the winter season. It has not yet begun to snow, but I am sure that when the white starts to fall from the golden sky, then we will soon hear the sound of children laughing and playing.

Nevertheless, in a future filled with happiness for the common people, there is only a subdued joy inside Talpa's old castle. It feels disconcerting, not being able to hear the sound of your voice echoing throughout the castle grounds, and, to add insult to injury, the residents of the Nether Realm will soon convene at one of the many teahouses for snow-viewing parties. Do you remember our last snow viewing? I think on it often. While every one else in the teahouse was, "painting the town red," the two of us were sitting on a stone bench in the garden, alone, watching a flurry dance in the wind.

Do you remember what we discussed? I do not remember the conversation word for word, but now that I am on the subject of that particular celebration, we must have joked about the most outlandish and exaggerated ways to drag Sekhmet and Cale back to the castle after they had drunk one too many shots of _sake_.

I am anxious that this year, in light of the fact that I am trying to hold onto that treasured memory inside the scarred pit I call my heart, that happiness will become as transient as the melting snow. I suppose one could say that the three of us will be, "left out in the cold."

I wish Cale were here to read these words. Had he seen that last paragraph, he would probably think I have gone soft and possibly would have teased me for becoming sentimental. Of course, he does not know of what I am about to confide in you, and, in fact, I hope to keep this between you and me. You see, the day after the rice harvest was over, and the dividing of taxes was almost complete, I was in the Mortal Realm sitting at a sushi bar Sekhmet had advised me to try out. There, I saw Koji Mia, that girl who was always with the Ronin Warriors, and when she saw me, she waved, and I invited her to join me at my table. When she finally did take a seat and our orders had been placed, we started talking about the war, Talpa's demise, and how well things were getting along after the battle.

I could not blame Mia for being on edge around me, as I had once been her enemy. Consequently, though she was trying to relax her guard, I could have sworn that there were exceedingly intense vibrations that crackled through the air while we ate. Eventually, she confided in me that a professor at the university she worked at -- named Nagataka Umeko -- had given birth to a healthy baby boy. The only problem with the child appeared to be that the infant had wisps of red-brown hair and vivid blue-green eyes, while Umeko, her husband, and both grandparents had black hair and brown eyes.

I must confess to you my little spring; I believe Mia must have thought that the child's coloring was remarkable, because she then asked me, quite bluntly, if I would ever attempt to kidnap the boy. I was caught off-guard by her question. Talpa no longer manipulated and blackened my soul, so why would I attempt such a thing to an infant?

Did she fear that if you had been reborn, we would force you to join the Dynasty before you had come of age? Why would she still assume that your death meant nothing to us?

Nonetheless, if you have been reborn as the child of Nagataka Umeko, my dear Anubis, then Cale, Sekhmet, and I will be waiting. If it takes seventeen lonely years, or more, for your new mind to remember who you once were, then the three of us will be patient. It will be in that period for you to discover your past, because immortals do not forget warriors, heroes, and friends. Furthermore, it is still my duty as the oldest of the Seasons to watch you grow up and help you claim what is rightfully yours. For that reason alone, human time is truly nothing, especially for someone who, in spite of everything else, is coming to make amends...

Forever waiting,  
Dais

_THE END_   
**End Notes**-Many thanks go out to Chibi Halo, Storme, all my other Beta Readers, readers, and reviewers. 


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